Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 15 January 2022)

Series: The Twice-Dead King – Book Two

Length: 12 hours and 3 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The fate of Oltyx and his necron dynasty is revealed in Reign, the epic and impressive second entry in The Twice-Dead King series of Warhammer 40,000 novels by Nate Crowley.

Last year I was lucky enough to listen to the fantastic and compelling Warhammer 40,000 novel, The Twice-Dead King: Ruin, which followed an exiled necron prince, Oltyx, one of the heirs to the Ithakas Dynasty.  After defending a barren rock in the far reaches of space for centuries, the immortal, metal-coated Oltyx soon encounters a grave threat of an invading alien fleet and is forced to break his exile and head back to his dynasty’s capital planet.  However, he soon discovers that his father, the king, and his court have been infected by a terrible madness and he must find a way to claim power and unite the remnants of his people before it is too late.  I had an outstanding time with Ruin and I was extremely excited when the planned second half of the series, Reign, came out a couple of weeks ago.

Reign takes place directly after the events of Ruin and sees Oltyx, now king of the Ithakas necrons, attempting to find a way to preserve his people after his capital planet was destroyed by the massed forces of the human Imperium.  With the remnants of his people crammed aboard his fleet, Oltyx searches for a safe planet to claim as their new home.  However, the forces of the Imperium are relentless in their mission to destroy all Xenos, and Oltyx’s fleet soon finds itself under pursuit from their massive crusade fleet.  At the same time, Oltyx is forced to deal with the vicious politics of the necron court, with the bickering and scheming nobles hoping to gain power at his expense.

However, the further the necrons run, the more apparent it becomes that the humans will never leave them alone.  Spurred on by his most loyal advisors, Oltyx embarks on a risky plan to find an ancient planet, said to be ruled over by a deadly king and his hordes.  Making use of long-lost technology, Oltyx and his people undertake a deadly trip towards their goal.  However, a far greater threat soon emerges in the very heart of his ship.  The flayer curse that has long infected his people and which drove Oltyx’s father mad has returned, and soon thousands are infected.  Forced to take drastic actions to save his people, Oltyx soon learns the full weight of responsibility and loneliness that all kings must bear.  But this king has a dark secret that will threaten the entire Ithakas Dynasty.  Can Oltyx control the dark urges that reside deep within his soul or will a new twice-dead king rise to reign over the Ithakas necrons?

Reign is an epic and exciting sequel to the first The Twice-Dead King novel, and I had a brilliant time getting through this compelling and fantastic novel.  This book has an excellent story that dives deep into the Warhammer 40,000 lore to explore one of the more mysterious races in the canon while focusing on a conflicted and damaged protagonist.

This latest The Twice-Dead King book had an intense and impressive narrative that I found myself incredibly drawn to.  Reign directly follows on from Ruin and continues several great storylines and character arcs established in the first book.  The book opens with the necrons on the run after the destruction of their crown world by the Imperium, and the recently crowned Oltyx desperately trying to produce a solution while also being assailed by doubts and regrets of his new position.  It really does not take long for the action to kick off, with the Imperium continuing their chase while Oltyx is assailed from within his own ship by treachery, dissention and doubt.  What follows is an intense chase storyline as the necron fleet tries to outrun their pursuers as Oltyx leads them to potential sanctuaries.  This eventually finds the necron travelling through a featureless void for the last half of the book, where they encounter greater internal problems as the terrifying flayer curse rears its head throughout the ships.  This results in some incredibly scary and powerful scenes that dives deeps into the protagonists’ insecurities and fears as he starts a brutal reign over his people.  All this leads up to epic conclusion, which not only features a brilliant fight scene between necrons and Space Marines, but then takes the protagonist on a deep journey to the heart of his enemies and himself.  There are some clever and powerful moments throughout the entire book, and I loved how several inclusions or continued throwaway lines really paid off.  I enjoyed how this book ended and Crowley leaves the narrative open for a follow-up, as there are a few questions left unanswered that I would really like to find out about.

Crowley has a great writing style that I felt really enhanced the intriguing and captivating Warhammer story contained within Reign.  The book’s narrative is well paced, with the plot jumping perfectly between great action sequences, touching character moments and freaky near-horror spots.  The author really lays in the detail during these scenes and the reader is swiftly drawn into the elaborate world of the necron, from the outrageous characters to the massive ships and artifacts.  This level of detail really brought the powerful narrative to life, and I was impressed with how epic and cool it made the various action sequences appear.  I particularly loved one elaborate fight sequence that saw the protagonist and his guards face off against the very best of the Angels Encarmine, including a full Death Company and a Chaplain.  This led to a destructive and intriguing duel, featuring some interesting similarities and a great clash of martial styles.  Reign is primarily a book for the dedicated Warhammer fan, especially as it focuses on an obscure race from deep within the lore.  You also really need to read the preceding book, Ruin, first, as all the key storylines follow through from there.  Some readers could probably get away with only reading the second book, especially as Crowley provide some detailed refreshing context and explanation, but I would strongly suggest going from the start to get the full experience of this fun and addictive read.

I deeply enjoyed how much Warhammer 40,000 lore that Reign features, especially as it dives into the heart of one of the most interesting factions, the necrons.  The necrons, ancient aliens with an ancient Egyptian motif who were made immortal by being encased in metal, are a fascinating race who are somewhat underutilised in Warhammer extended fiction.  However, throughout The Twice-Dead King novels, Crowley has done a wonderful job of examining everything important about the necrons and he soon expands your view of this mysterious and long-dead race, turning them into a very captivating and personable group.  Crowley really dives into the lore of the necrons, focusing on everything, such as their history, their emotions, technology, philosophies, physiology, strengths and their weaknesses.  There is a great focus on the many mental conditions impacting them thanks to their transition from flesh to metal, including the flayer curse which drives them insane and forces them to cut off the skin of their opponents and attempt to eat their flesh, despite their inability to consume anything.  The author brings each of these conditions to life, especially in Reign, and watching the various necron characters attempt to overcome the curses coming for them and impacting their friends is deeply fascinating and powerful.

I really enjoyed the intense sense of tragedy and decline that Crowley installs in the various necron characters, and you swiftly start rooting for them, despite the universe usually portraying humans as protagonists.  There are some major necron moments in this novel, and I loved the range of interesting characters, desolate settings and powerful technology that Crowley cleverly features.  You also must love seeing the rest of the universe through the necron’s ancient and somewhat arrogant eyes, as it makes for some amusing insights.  It was particularly fun to see their opinions about the human fleet coming after them, including the Space Marines of the Angels Encarmine, and their constant disbelief at their crudity and apparent success is a fun part of the book.  The Angels Encarmine are actually an interesting mirror to the necrons, as the Space Marines have also attempted to become better by enhancing their weak initial flesh.  The Angels Encarmine, a successor chapter of the Blood Angels, also share a similar bloodlust, insanity and desire for killing that the necron flayed ones have, and their appearance during the Black Rage is very similar to necrons suffering from flayers curse.  I deeply enjoyed this excellent and captivating examination of this part of the Warhammer 40,000 canon and Crowley has a brilliant understanding of this complex universe.

I also really enjoyed seeing the continued journey of the main character and sole point-of-view character, Oltyx, who is now the king of his dynasty.  Oltyx is a great, damaged character who went through substantial growth in the last novel as he attempted to become a worthy prince and regain his honour, only to discover that his father, the king, had gone insane with the flayer curse, which forced Oltyx to kill him.  Reeling from this and the death of his brother by the humans, Oltyx takes control as the new king and instantly finds himself overcome with responsibility as external and internal threats threaten to overwhelm him.  It is extremely captivating to watch Oltyx attempt to deal with the various dangers and concerns of a king, especially as he is wracked with guilt over his many mistakes and riven with indecision over the best course from his people.  Thanks to his own internal suffering, insidious visions from the past and his own brush with the flayer curse, Oltyx makes some terrible decisions throughout Reign, and his slow descent towards tyranny and insanity is brilliantly portrayed.  The subsequent and intriguing evolution of his character is set up extremely well, and it results in some major changes for Oltyx.  I really hope that Crowley will continue the story of Oltyx in the future as there is still a lot of development and story to follow there.

Like most Warhammer novels I have checked out, I chose to enjoy Reign in its audiobook format, which ended up being a great decision.  Having the complex and detail laden story read to me really helped to cement all the key detail of Reign in my head, and it really helped to paint an incredible picture of the various settings, events and battles.  It also was a pretty quick way to enjoy this great book, as, with a runtime of around 12 hours, most fans can power through Reign in no time at all.  I must highlight the impressive narration from Richard Reed, who also lent his voice to the first book in the series.  Reed has a brilliant voice that does an excellent job bringing all the ancient, proud and inhuman necron characters to life.  I loved the magnificent and powerful tones he gave to the main character and point of view character Oltyx, and the entire rest of the cast are given extremely cool and fitting voices that highlight their distinctive and mechanised personalities.  Reed ensures that the various mental diseases and age-related degradations that the necron characters are suffering really comes through in his voicing of them, and the occasional stutter or lengthy pause between words helps to highlight just how decrepit some of the ancient necrons is an excellent touch.  This was a brilliant and addictive way to enjoy this second The Twice-Dead King novel, and I would strongly recommend Reign’s audiobook to all Warhammer fans.

Nate Crowley continues to shine as a brilliant and talented author of Warhammer fiction, as his latest book, The Twice-Dead King: Reign, was such an awesome read.  Continuing the great narrative set up in Ruin, Reign was an amazing sequel that continued to dive down into the troubled mind of its cursed, necron protagonist.  I loved the amazing and captivating story that followed, especially as it showed the necron in all their bloody glory and revealed just how complex they can be.  A must read for all fans of Warhammer 40,000 fiction; Reign is an outstanding book that I just could not get enough of.

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